00:00This costs about two dollars. The exterminator who wants three hundred dollars from you does
00:04not want you to see this. A single pest control visit for rodents runs two hundred to four hundred
00:09dollars. And that's if they even get all of them. Rats breed every three weeks, so if the technician
00:15misses the nest, you're paying that bill again next month. Meanwhile, the traps you already own
00:20from the hardware store, rats are smart enough to avoid anything that looks or smells like a trap
00:25after the first one gets caught. You're not fighting one rat. You're fighting a species
00:29that's been outsmarting humans for ten thousand years. Before we get into the fix, let's talk about
00:35why the stuff you've probably already tried didn't work, because understanding that is what makes this
00:39method make sense. Snap traps only catch what walks directly into them, and after the first snap,
00:45every rat in the area learns to route around it. Rats communicate danger through scent markers,
00:50so one dead rat in a trap can make the rest of the colony avoid that entire section of the
00:54wall.
00:54Glue traps are worse. They only catch the weakest, youngest rats. The strong ones just pull free,
01:00and they're genuinely unpleasant to deal with. And those ultrasonic plug-in repellers you see
01:04advertised everywhere? Rats adapt to consistent sound within about 72 hours. It stops working almost
01:10immediately. They just learn to tune it out like traffic noise. Quick gut check before we go further.
01:16Make sure you're actually dealing with rats and not mice, because the fix is different. Rat droppings are about
01:21the size of a grain of rice, dark and pointed at both ends. Mouse droppings are smaller, more like a
01:28grain of black pepper. If you're hearing scratching in the walls at night, that sounds heavier, almost
01:33like footsteps. That's rats. Mice sound lighter and faster. This method works on both, but if it's mice,
01:39you'll want smaller bait balls, about the size of a pea instead of a marble. Here's what actually works,
01:45and it's not poison, so it's safer to have around if you've got pets or kids in the house.
01:49Mix plaster of Paris with flour, roughly equal parts, then stir in a spoonful of sugar or cocoa
01:55powder. That's what gets rats interested in the first place. Since plaster alone has no smell that
02:00would draw them in, add just enough water to bring it together into a workable dough. Not soupy, more
02:06like cookie dough consistency. Roll the mixture into small balls, about the size of a marble, and let them
02:12air dry for a few hours before placing them. You want the outside slightly hardened so it holds together
02:17when they carry it off, which they will. Here's the science behind why this works. Plaster of Paris
02:23hardens when it hits liquid. Once a rat eats it and then drinks water, like they always do afterward,
02:29the plaster sets inside them the same way it would in a mixing bowl. Their body can't process or expel
02:34it.
02:35That's different from poison bait, which just makes them sick and cautious after one exposure.
02:40This method doesn't teach them to avoid it, because there's no smell or taste warning them off,
02:45and there's no delayed sickness that lets them associate the bait with danger. A pet or child
02:50would need to eat a genuinely large amount of dry plaster powder for it to be a real concern,
02:56and it doesn't carry the greasy, sweet smell that makes cats and dogs go after peanut butter-based
03:01traps in the first place. Now, here's where most people mess this up, and it's worth slowing down for.
03:07Mistake one, using too much water, which makes balls that fall apart before a rat even finds them.
03:13Mistake two, skipping the sugar or cocoa, which means the bait just smells like a rock to a rat.
03:19They won't touch something with no scent, no matter how well hidden it is. Mistake three,
03:24and this is the big one, placing bait out in the open where you can see it. Rats are cautious
03:30around
03:30open spaces, because that's where predators catch them. They want cover. If your bait ball is sitting in
03:37the middle of the garage floor, it'll sit there untouched for a week. Placement matters as much
03:41as the mixture. Put these balls anywhere you've seen droppings. Along walls, behind appliances,
03:47in the garage, near baseboards, inside cabinets where pipes run through the wall. Rats travel the same
03:52paths every single night, hugging walls and corners, so you're placing this exactly where they already
03:58walk. Not guessing. If you have a shed or garage, check along the bottom of shelving. Units? That's
04:05a favorite spot. Space your bait balls every six to eight feet along a suspected path, rather than
04:10clustering them all in one spot. You want to catch them wherever they are, not force them to travel
04:15further than they're willing to. Most people see activities stop within three to five days. If you're
04:21still seeing droppings after a week, you probably missed their main path. Go back and look for disturbed
04:26insulation or grease marks along a wall. Rats have oily fur, so the path they use most gets a dark,
04:32smudged look over time. That's the highway they've actually been using, and that's where the balls need
04:37to go. One more thing that makes this even more effective, and honestly, it matters just as much
04:42as the bait itself. Seal the entry point once they're gone. Steel wool stuffed into any gap smaller
04:48than a quarter costs about a dollar, and rats can't chew through it the way they can chew through caulk
04:52or
04:53spray foam since their teeth just can't get purchase on the fibers. Check around where pipes and wires
04:58enter the house. That's the number one overlooked entry point. Without this step, you're just clearing
05:02out one generation before the next. One finds the exact same hole and moves in. If you want to go
05:08one
05:08step further, keep any pet food and birdseed in sealed containers rather than the bag they came in.
05:13An open bag of dry food is basically a welcome sign, and it's one of the most common reasons a
05:18house
05:19that's been rat-free for years suddenly has a problem again. Now, I know this sounds too simple
05:24to actually beat something exterminators charge hundreds of dollars for, but most of what you're
05:29paying for in that visit is the exact same bait method you could have built yourself for two dollars.
05:34You're not paying for a secret formula. You're paying for someone else's 15 minutes. And if you're
05:39wondering whether this is humane compared to a snap trap or a glue trap, this is actually considered one
05:45the gentler methods since there's no injury involved at all. If this just saved you a $300 phone call,
05:51that's exactly why I made this video. Subscribe if you want more of these. And if you've got a pest
05:56problem I haven't covered yet, tell me in the comments and I'll make it the next one.
